Waichirou Sekiya
Waichirou Sekiya (関谷輪一郎, Sekiya Waichirō) was one of the Abashiri Convicts, a former veterinarian and an expert in poisons. Appearance Sekiya has shaved dark hair, large brush-like eyebrows, and a small triangle-shaped goatee below his lower lip. As a prisoner of Abashiri, he wore their prison uniform and handcuffs. After leaving Abashiri Prison, Sekiya wore a heavy dark coat with a fur hood and boots. While in disguise from Kadokura, Sekiya wore a cloak around his body as well as a headscarf to hide his face. As an Abashiri convict, Sekiya has a tattoo of a map somewhere on his body. Personality Sekiya is a firm believer of fortune, and by his own account, enjoys watching how a person's luck plays out. He is also very knowledgeable about poison as seen when he was able to identify the kind of poison just by looking at them. Due to the death of his daughter, Sekiya has always wondered why his daughter had died and not him and begins to question if luck is the will of god or the fact that he is still alive proves that god does not exist. As such, he appears to be an agnostic thiest. Background One Sunday morning, Sekiya was walking home with his toddler daughter when lightning struck next to them, knocking Sekiya out and killing his daughter. Since then, Sekiya had wondered why his daughter had been chosen to die and not him. Sekiya once used to be a livestock vetinerian who went around to different ranches in Hokkaido and looked after their horses. He used several kinds of poison such as strychnine, potassium cyanide, and arsenic to kill thirty people. As a result of this crime, Sekiya was sent to Abashiri Prison and placed in a cell with Kiichirou Wakayama and another man. While in jail, Sekiya decided to experiment by mixing poison into one of the three miso bowls and served them to the nameless man he shared cells with. Wakayama became angry at Sekiya but he tells him that since he is a yakuza boss, luck would be on his side and says that watching a person's fortune play out is something that he enjoys, admitting that he has killed plenty of people with terrible luck. During his stay in Abashiri, while doing outsider labour, Sekiya once took an aconite plant and snuck it inside with him. This caused Kadokura to have to check every part of his body everytime he went out for labour. Plot When Toshizou Hijikata and Tatsuma Ushiyama went out to look for Sekiya in the Lake Akan area, Sekiya runs into the latter and confronts him. He lies to Ushiyama, saying that he had kidnapped Hijikata, which convinced Ushiyama to consume one of the cocoons containing pufferfish and datura plant poison, thus paralyzing him. Sekiya then buried Ushiyama in a casket before leaving to meet Hijikata. Hiding from Hijikata, Sekiya tells him that if he were to eat one of the cocoons, then he will let Ushiyama go but Hijikata says that he has no intention of playing along with his games and will come after him. Sekiya notes who Hijikata is and wonders what he plans to do with the gold before explaining to him what he did with Ushiyama. Hijikata tells him that he has already made a copy of Ushiyama's tattoo but Sekiya says that Ushiyama willingly drank the poison when he lied to him about having kidnapped Hijikata. Sekiya then tells Hijikata to test his luck, and he relents, consuming one of the cocoons. The cocoon turned out to be a poisonous one, which caused Hijikata to fall unconscious. As Sekiya observed Hijikata's body, he comments that the poison was a fatal dose and expresses amazement that the old man is still alive. Sekiya notes that Hijikata's allies would be willing to give up their tattooed skins for his sake and moves Hijikata's body unaware of a young boy skating on the lake nearby. Sometime later, disguised as a fisherman, Sekiya hunts for some fishes when one of Hijikata's allies, Kadokura approaches him, asking if he had any fishes biting and he reveals that he was only able to capture some pond smelts. After seeing Kadokura, Sekiya decided to test his luck by putting a fatal dose of tetrodotixin poison into one of the fishes that he caught. He then approached Kirawus and offers him some of the pond smelts, and the Ainu man tells him that Kokanee salmon, which he had been fishing for, are not active at this time of the day and asks if he is not from around here, to which Sekiya confirms it. As Kirawus brings the fishes to Kadokura, Sekiya wonders if Kadokura will be blessed with great fortune or be punished by fate. Sekiya returns to the building where he had buried Hijikata and Ushiyama, and as he takes Hijikata's sword from his unconscious body, he recounts all of the former Shinsengumi vice captain's accomplishments and wonders if that is all his destiny amounts to. He goes to check on Ushiyama but finds that his casket is open and empty. Sekiya is shocked that Ushiyama was able to break out but calms down, noting that he has been here for several hours and doubts that Ushiyama should have any memories of the building due to the poison still in his system. Sekiya then heads to the middle of the frozen lake of Akan where he waits for Kadokura to arrive for their deal. Upon seeing Kadokura, he tells him to stop and take off his clothes so as to make sure he came unarmed. Kadokura does so and Sekiya asks about the tattooed skins to which Kadokura replies that they are in his overcoat that he took off. Sekiya warns Kadokura that if he makes any suspicious movements, the deal is off. He notices Kadokura looking behind him and asks if Kirawus is waiting on the shore and if he had borrowed the knife that Kadokura had hidden between his butt from the Ainu man. Sekiya stands up, noting that Kadokura was planning to use force to make him reveal where Hijikata is and that he is as sloppy as ever before asking him if gods really do exists. Sekiya takes off his coat to reveal that he is wearing gerori skates before skating away from Kadokura. As the gap between the two men widens, Ushiyama suddenly pops up from a hot spring spot which causes Sekiya to become surprised and change course back in the direction of Kadokura. He is able to deftly avoid Kadokura's attempt to grab onto his jacket and continues to skate away back to a silkworm farm. As Sekiya leaves the farm, Kadokura is able to find him, pushing him to the walls and demanding to know where Hijikata is. Sekiya says that he is impressed Kadokura was able to find the farm and leads him inside to show him a cocoon sorting device. He tells him that Hijikata is buried in one of the buildings on the farm and that he wants for him to undergo a trial. Sekiya explains that he put poisoned cocoons on the sorting device with the ones diagonal of them being safe and that the both of them will take one and eat them. He swears that if he takes a poisoned cocoon then he will tell him where Hijikata is buried and that if Kadokura takes a poisoned one instead, he will free Hijikata. However, Kadokura stabs him in the leg, demanding to know Hijikata's whereabouts, but Sekiya says that he does not have much time left. He tells Kadokura that he has an interest in the fate of other people who possesses a strong will and drive and Kadokura finally realizes what his true aims were. The two men then takes a cocoon and consumes them and Sekiya begins to tell Kadokura about his past regarding his daughter's death and wonders if luck is the will of god. Sekiya notices Kadokura showing symptoms of aconite and gets up to dig Hijikata out. As he digs up the ground, Sekiya notes that he can still make use of Hijikata and wonders if he should give the trial to Kirawus or Ushiyama again. Just then, Hijikata springs up, grabbing Sekiya's neck as well as a knife which he uses to cut down Sekiya, saying that his time selling medicine had helped him and that relying on luck to survive in this day and age simply isn't enough. With blood gushing out from where his ear was, Sekiya stumbles out of the farm, unable to believe that Hijikata was able to correctly pick out the poison that would counter the one in his body. He collapses to the ground as Hijikata approaches him, saying that he had no choice but to gamble otherwise it would mean certain death. Sekiya still doesn't believe it, attributing Hijikata's survival to a miracle and that god really did exist, coming to punish him, before succumbing to his wounds. Category:Characters Category:Male Category:Tattooed Convicts Category:Deceased